White Sox Claimed Former Yankees Pitcher Off Waivers

Enyel De Los Santos comfortably took the mound for the New York Yankees against the Chicago White Sox a week ago at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Moments later, Major League Baseball’s worst team began teeing off on the reliever who was acquired at the trade deadline from the San Diego Padres.

Chicago scored seven runs of De Los Santos and he was designated for assignment two days later.

It’s funny how baseball works sometimes because the team that ended De Los Santos’ short stint as a Bronx Bomber, scooped him up off waivers six days after they shelled him.

De Los Santos pitched in five games for New York, allowing 10 runs in 6.1 innings. His earned run average skyrocketed to 14.21 after giving up seven runs to the White Sox in 1.2 innings.

“I think he’s better than how he pitched here,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday. “Career-wise, he’s been better than that. Just got to a spot where he wasn’t quite commanding the fastball the way he wanted to, wasn’t quite getting the slider where he wanted to, and got thrown into some tough spots where he had to pick up some length, which is never ideal. You’d like to get him against the righties as much as possible. And then he just got into a roster jam.”

The 28-year-old wasn’t outstanding with San Diego as he pitched to a mediocre 4.46 ERA, giving up 21 runs (20 earned) on 39 hits over 40.1 innings. The Padres just ran out of room for him in the bullpen after acquiring several arms including Tanner Scott and Bryan Hoeing from the Miami Marlins.

Instead of designating him for assignment, the Padres flipped him along with pitching prospect Thomas Balboni Jr. to the Yankees in exchange for Brandon Lockridge.

De Los Santos has had good seasons before. He had two solid years with the Cleveland Guardians in 2022 and 2023 finishing the seasons with ERAs of 3.04 and 3.29. The two seasons in Cleveland were his own sub-4.00 ERA years.

In parts of six major league seasons, De Los Santos is 14-6 with a 4.52 ERA in 214 appearances, all but three in relief.

To make room on the 40-man roster, Chicago also recalled right-handed pitcher Gus Varland from its Triple-A club in Charlotte, while placing Mike Clevinger on the 60-day injured list and Steven Wilson on the 15-day IL.

At this point, the White Sox are just doing what they can as they limp toward the end of the season. They have already been eliminated from playoff contention.

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